Private company outed fake NSW doctor

A private medical company uncovered a fake doctor accused of evading NSW health authorities for more than a decade while treating patients at four Sydney and Central Coast hospitals.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has called for a jail term for Indian man Shyam Acharya, who allegedly stole the name and medical qualifications of Sarang Chitale to enter Australia and then work at Manly, Hornsby, Wyong and Gosford hospitals between 2003 and 2014.

Acharya, 41, who is believed to have left the country, worked as a junior doctor and in emergency departments.

After leaving the hospitals, Acharya worked for private medical research company Novotech between June 2015 and September 2016 using the same fake identity.

Novotech raised the alarm before official investigations began.

Management at the firm discovered in September he may have misrepresented his identity and qualifications and contacted the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and the NSW Police.

"Those organisations conducted their own investigations into this issue with which Novotech fully co-operated," a spokeswoman told AAP on Wednesday.

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"Shyam Acharya did not have any direct contact with, nor any responsibility for, patients whilst at Novotech."

Authorities are now trying to track down Acharya who is accused of stealing the documents while living in India and using them to register with the Medical Council of NSW.

He was also able to get Australian citizenship.

Acharya has been charged by the AHPRA and faces a fine of up to $30,000.

The case was mentioned in Downing Centre Local Court on Monday and adjourned to April 3, however it's not clear if Acharya will face court if he has fled the country.

Mr Hazzard called the fine "crackers" and woefully inadequate and said more needs to be done.

He said was disturbing such a "master conman" got through Border Protection with a false passport.

He will raise the issue at this month's COAG health ministers' meeting to ensure checks and balances are in place at a national level so people are stopped from fraudulently posing as doctors.

"I will be pushing for a jail term for anybody who thinks this is acceptable," he told AAP on Wednesday.

"People just generally can't walk off the street and fake being able to do a diagnosis of a patient."

NSW Health would not reveal whether Acharya had any medical experience before working in Australia, but said he was supervised because he was a junior doctor with limited registration.

Mr Hazzard said it would be logical to assume he may have some medical training in order to have eluded scrutiny for so long.

Acharya was involved in one critical incident in which there were concerns about a patient's treatment, but only as one of several people on the clinical team.

As of Wednesday NSW Health has received no further complaints about him.

After being notified of the breach last year, Central Coast Local Health District launched a review to check whether Acharya had been involved in any clinical incidents or complaints, but did not find anything.

"The district followed the required process during recruitment including medical registration and identity checks," district chief Dr Andrew Montague told AAP.

Australian Medical Association NSW president Professor Brad Frankum said it was concerning Acharya was able to fool the system for so long.

"It was a long time ago that the person faked their way in ... and the system is more robust now than it was."